AIBF Merchandise, Then and Now

BY TOM MCCONNELL AND LISA MULDER, FOR THE AIBF HERITAGE COMMITTEE

Most everyone knows the Balloon Fiesta is held the fi rst full week in

October, but those aren’t the only red-letter days

Balloon Fiesta fans circle on their calendars. Every year, collectors eagerly await the days that year’s

Balloon Fiesta collectibles go on sale. Over the years, the Balloon Fiesta has licensed an eclectic and creative series of products, some of which are now worth serious money. From 1972 to 1975, Sid

Cutter made almost all of the decisions affecting

Balloon Fiesta, including the promotional and merchandise items that would help defray the expense of conducting the fi rst four Balloon Fiestas. (This was in addition to all the other decisions about running the actual balloon event, sponsorships, food, other vendors, spectators, volunteers, traffi c, safety and security, balloon pilot invitations, balloon crew issues, coordination with the local Federal Aviation Agency, airport, police, garbage collection, launch site issues, and basically everything else.) Sid also made up the rules for the show (which he called, fi rst, The International Balloon Festival & Rally, then The Albuquerque International CoyoteRoadrunner Balloon Fiesta, and fi nally the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta or AIBF), how prizes would be awarded, who would serve as launch, scoring and safety offi cials, competition rules, all the details. In 1976, the decisionmaking transferred from Sid to, fi rst, a Mayor’s Committee, and then a not-for-profi t corporation (AIBF, Inc.). Since then, this mostly volunteer, private (i.e. non-governmental) corporation has made all the decisions, some of which have worked out well, and some not so well. The good decisions have been expanded and modernized, while the not-so-good ones have disappeared into the dust bin of history.

Early on, the volunteer Board of Directors, plus a very small number of paid employees, produced the calendar, programs, pins and patches, shirts, caps, and other promotional

Sid Cutter

items. Most of these were for sale to the public, in order to pay for the next year’s event.

For example, until about 1980 Charles Hines, then President of AIBF, produced the annual calendar, using photos taken by amateur photographers. Then, another Board member assumed responsibility for the calendar. With the help of his wife and a close professional illustrator/photographer friend, and often with the aid of adult beverages, he carried on the process of choosing photos for the calendar and designing the layout until it was taken over by yet another Board member (a professional photographer and his wife), and later by the newly created merchandise department.

Currently our AIBF Merchandise Manager, Lisa Mulder, and her assistant Jayne Thurman, spearhead all offi cial AIBF items that are sold retail in on-fi eld tents during Balloon Fiesta, and year-round in the offi ce gift shop and the on-line store. Contractors such as Costco, the Balloon Museum, and smaller local and regional gift shops also sell some items. Lisa and Jayne handle the calendars, pins, patches, posters, uniforms, jackets, shirts, caps, coffee cups, etc., basically all things merchandise.

The reader may wonder what goes into designing and ordering the merchandise. The design and procuring of the annual calendar consists of a fi ve-person subcommittee that chooses photos, design and format for each calendar - these are the Merchandise Manager, Assistant Merchandise Manager, Director of Operations, one Board member, and our Video Producer. The photos come from our annual photo contest, our offi cial AIBF photographers, or anyone else who would like to submit a dynamite photo taken at a previous Balloon Fiesta. Each photo must be 10 megabytes or larger (so it can be professionally enlarged).

The retail merchandise is planned, based on what has sold well in the past and what is new and upcoming each year. Data and sales reports are analyzed and a budget is set up. Most of the retail choices come

directly from the merchandise team. Art designs often come directly from the vendors themselves. For example, Plano Pin Company works directly with Lisa to create the pins and patches every year; Diane Karlsson (boss of Plano Pin) is a long-time pilot and is very active in the ballooning community, and so she and her staff give Balloon Fiesta an inside track on what art will fit well with the largest balloon event in the world.

Lisa and Jayne are also in charge of ordering any merchandise that may be needed for our internal (non-retail) needs, such as for Pilots, Sponsors, Navigators, Public Safety, Board and Staff, and Officials. These are items generally not for sale to the public. Each of these item groups provide uniforms and/or gifts for their volunteers, subcontractors and important constituents. One major example of merchandise given out are the jackets produced for each of the groups. Those jackets represent the event theme and are utilized based on the service level of the individuals in each group, or as in the case of the Public Safety, Officials, Staff and Board, as a uniform.

If anyone wants a piece of Balloon Fiesta history, make sure to check our website at www.balloonfiestastuff.com or visit us in person at 4401 Alameda Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87113 or in our big official merchandise tents on Main Street.